Business Builders

Michelle Walsh joins Business Builders for a grounded, honest conversation about scaling a family business, navigating relentless growth, and learning the hard lessons that only come from being in the arena.
From unexpectedly stepping into a food manufacturing business straight off a flight home, to helping grow RibWorld from €7 million to nearly €50 million in turnover, Michelle shares what it really takes to lead through expansion, crisis, and eventual exit. Over nine intense years, she helped build a 250-person operation supplying major supermarkets across Ireland, the UK, and Germany — all while learning first-hand how easy it is to lose control when growth outpaces structure.
Rather than glamorising scale, Michelle reflects on the summer that nearly broke the business — when booming demand exposed weak controls, poor management information, and the cost of avoiding the “hard stuff.” That experience reshaped how she thinks about leadership, information, delegation, and strategic planning.
The conversation moves through succession in family businesses, the emotional complexity of selling a company built over generations, the stress of private equity due diligence during Covid, and the personal toll of running a high-pressure operation in a volatile industry.
Now working with founder-led and family businesses, Michelle brings that lived experience into advisory — helping business owners step out of operational firefighting, build real management teams, and regain control of the numbers that actually drive profit.
This episode is a practical and deeply human look at what scaling really demands — and why facing the hard decisions early can save you years of pain later.
🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn:
– Why rapid growth can quietly destroy profitability
 – The hidden risk of not having real management information
 – How founders become the bottleneck in their own business
 – Why building a management team is harder than scaling revenue
 – The emotional and financial realities of selling a family business
 – What private equity due diligence actually looks like
 – Why gross margin by customer matters more than revenue
 – The danger of overconfidence in leadership
 – How to step out of day-to-day firefighting and think strategically
 – The importance of facing the “hard stuff” before it becomes a crisis
⏱️ Timestamps
00:00 – The summer that changed everything
 02:10 – Michelle’s advisory work with family businesses
 09:30 – Growing RibWorld from €7m to €50m
 13:15 – Moving factories and scaling under pressure
 29:00 – Losing control during peak demand
 31:00 – Installing systems that track profit daily
 32:20 – Why founders default to operational firefighting
 38:50 – What do you actually want from your business?
 46:06 – Why the family decided to sell
 49:30 – The emotional aftermath of the sale
 52:17 – Private equity, Covid, and extreme due diligence
 56:34 – Why meat is a brutally competitive industry
 1:14:05 – The two biggest problems in SMEs
 1:19:21 – Michelle’s biggest personal leadership lesson
🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.
 👇 Full episode link in the comments.

Philip McKernan joins Business Builders for a powerful conversation about success, identity, money, and the quiet cost of living a life that isn’t fully aligned with who you are.
Rather than framing success as growth, scale, or financial achievement, Philip challenges the idea that more money or momentum will ever resolve a deeper sense of unease. Drawing on his work with entrepreneurs, athletes, and leaders around the world — as well as his own experience of losing everything — he explores why so many people reach impressive milestones yet still feel unfulfilled, restless, or disconnected.
The conversation moves through identity, failure, purpose, and self-awareness, examining how entrepreneurs often over-identify with achievement, postpone meaningful work, and build lives around what they want to avoid rather than what they truly want. Philip also reflects on the role of money, environment, and fear in shaping our decisions — and why most people never bring their greatest work into the world.
This episode is a deeply human look at entrepreneurship as a personal journey — not just a commercial one — and an invitation to stop betraying yourself in the pursuit of success.
🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn:
– Why most people think they want success but actually want meaning
– The hidden cost of not changing when things are “going well”
– How founders over-identify with achievement
– Why money can never fix a misaligned life
– How fear keeps people from their real work
– Why failure can be the doorway to purpose
– The importance of self-relationship for entrepreneurs
– Why environment and place shape creativity and clarity
– How to stop postponing the work that actually matters
⏱️ Timestamps
00:00 – Why entrepreneurs neglect their relationship with themselves
 02:00 – Crisis, crossroads, and waking up too late
 03:18 – Getting ahead of the conversation before regret sets in
 03:35 – Why success isn’t what people actually want
 04:54 – Dying with your best work still inside you
 05:28 – Losing everything and letting go of chasing money
 08:10 – The therapy moment that changed everything
 10:14 – Discovering how much emotion we store in the body
 14:25 – How our life story quietly shapes our decisions
 15:20 – Building a life around what you don’t want
 16:47 – The real estate crash and starting again from zero
 21:12 – Why busyness can’t outrun truth
 25:14 – The cost of not changing
 30:31 – Our dysfunctional relationship with money
 37:13 – Why protecting lifestyle blocks real purpose
 40:48 – The “three mountains” of life and work
 43:13 – Burning the ships and committing fully
 45:56 – Why everything Philip chased was a chase
 50:13 – Success, ego, and the Irish relationship with ambition
 55:12 – Why most people never bring their gifts into the world
🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.
👇 Full episode link in the comments.

Neuroscientist and psychologist Ian Robertson joins Business Builders to unpack what confidence really is, how it shapes success, and why it can quietly turn against the very people it helps elevate.

Ian is Emeritus Professor at Trinity College, Dublin and author of two best-selling books:
How Confidence Works: the new science of self-belief. Penguin
The Winner Effect: the science of success and how to use it. Bloomsbury
Rather than treating confidence as optimism or self-belief, Ian explains it as a brain-based mechanism; one that drives action, motivation, mood, influence, and decision-making. Drawing on neuroscience, psychology, sport, leadership, and real-world examples, he shows how confidence compounds through small wins, why it’s essential for navigating uncertainty, and how it can distort judgment as success accumulates.
The conversation also explores the dark side of confidence: how overconfidence becomes addictive, why it mirrors the effects of power on the brain, and how leaders, founders, and public figures can lose self-awareness as dopamine, status, and success reinforce one another. Ian draws a sharp distinction between intrinsic goals, wanting to be good at what you do, and extrinsic goals like money, status, and beating competitors, explaining why one builds resilience while the other undermines judgment and mental health.
This episode is a deep, practical look at confidence as a tool, one that can build extraordinary momentum if used well, and cause serious damage if misunderstood.
🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn:
– What confidence actually is (and what it isn’t)
– Why confidence drives action despite uncertainty
– How the “winner effect” compounds success
– Why manifesting big goals can backfire
– How intrinsic vs extrinsic goals shape motivation
– Why overconfidence distorts judgment and risk perception
– How power and success affect the brain
– Why failure is a better teacher than success
– How confidence shapes leadership, parenting, and aging
⏱️ Timestamps
00:00 – What confidence really is
 01:30 – Confidence vs self-esteem and optimism
 03:50 – Confidence as a self-fulfilling prophecy
 05:10 – The winner effect and compounding success
 06:40 – Why confidence creates widening gaps over time
 07:05 – Why big fantasy goals often fail
 08:45 – Intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation
 10:00 – Confidence as the bridge across uncertainty
 11:20 – Confidence vs anxiety
 12:30 – Confidence as a natural antidepressant
 13:55 – Why confidence increases influence and persuasion
 15:00 – When confidence becomes dangerous
 16:40 – Overconfidence, luck, and distorted self-belief
 18:00 – Power, narcissism, and loss of self-awareness
 19:30 – Why extrinsic success becomes addictive
 20:00 – The limits of “manifesting”
 21:00 – Olympic failure and rebuilding confidence through process
 23:20 – Why Ian became fascinated by confidence
 24:30 – Why confidence matters so much in childhood
 26:00 – Anxiety, avoidance, and learning
 27:40 – Parenting, risk, and emotional robustness
 29:40 – Why failure builds better founders
 31:00 – Experience, learning, and explaining complex ideas
 32:45 – Self-awa

Sam Moffett, founder of Moffett Automation, shares what it really takes to build a world-class, high-stakes business where failure simply isn’t an option . From growing up inside a family manufacturing company in rural Ireland to delivering fully automated warehouse systems for some of the world’s biggest operators.
Sam explains the fundamental shift from selling products to selling outcomes, and why, in his world, customers don’t care about features - they care about certainty. When a warehouse goes down, the cost can be millions per day, and that reality shapes everything from how Moffett Automation sells, builds, installs, and supports its systems.
The conversation explores the pressures of scaling a complex technology business, the early pain of winning trust as a young founder, and the responsibility that comes with having your name above the door. Sam talks candidly about projects that didn’t go to plan, why honesty matters more than short-term wins, and how standing by customers, especially when things go wrong, became a defining principle of the company.
We also dig into the human side of growth: balancing a global business with family life, the personal cost of constant travel, and why Sam is determined to scale without losing control, quality, or values.
🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn:
– Why selling solutions beats selling products
– What it means to build systems where failure isn’t an option
– How trust and responsibility shape long-term customer relationships
– The challenges of scaling complex technology from a rural base
– Why honesty can cost you in the short term — but pays off over time
– How Sam balances global growth with family life and personal values
⏱️ Chapters
00:00 — Introduction
 02:10 — What Moffett Automation actually does
 05:00 — Selling outcomes, not products
 11:00 — The pressure of building systems that can’t fail
 14:30 — Early mistakes, hard lessons & earning trust
 21:00 — Scaling without losing control or quality
 27:45 — Honesty, integrity & walking away from bad deals
 33:00 — Leadership, competitiveness & decision-making
 40:00 — Motorsport, mindset & performance under pressure
 48:15 — Recognition, credibility & Entrepreneur of the Year
 55:45 — Family, balance & the personal cost of growth
Whether you’re building a technology company, scaling a high-risk operation, or leading a business where trust is everything, this episode offers grounded, hard-earned insight into what sustainable growth really demands.
🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.
👇 Full episode link in the comments.

Tim Sparsis, founder of The Attic Company, shares an honest account of what it really takes to grow a trade business from the ground up — from arriving in Ireland with an old van and borrowed money to building a company that now delivers hundreds of projects every year.
Tim talks openly about the early days of doing everything himself, the fear of hiring when cash was tight, and the moment he realised that staying “on the tools” was holding the business back. He explains why scaling meant going backwards to go forwards, how systems and people unlocked growth, and why letting go was the hardest — but most important — leadership shift he made.
The conversation also explores the human side of building a business: mental health, burnout, and the role running and fitness play in helping Tim switch off, think clearly, and build something sustainable over the long term.
🎧 In this episode, you’ll learn:
– How Tim moved from doing everything himself to leading a scalable business
– Why most founders think they can’t afford their next hire — and why that mindset holds them back
– What “going backwards to go forwards” really looks like in practice
– How systems and operations enable growth in a trade business
– Why stepping away from the tools was the turning point
– The importance of balance, mental health, and sustainability as a founder
Whether you’re building a trade business, scaling a service company, or navigating the transition from operator to leader, this episode offers practical, hard-earned insights into what sustainable growth really requires.
🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube.
👇 Full episode link in the comments.